"If you think Game Of Thrones is bad, you need to watch Conan The Barbarian"

edgar roy green, 07.04.13

Look at this fucking gimp!

Yet again, another argument about good films, bad films, “arthouse films”. Yet again hearing a line like “If you think Game Of Thrones is bad, you need to watch Conan The Barbarian!”. Well, I DO think Game of Thrones is bad – because it is bad – and I’m not watching Conan The Barbarian. Why this obsession with bad films? (Or TV, whatever) Why are bad films good? Again I must ask the question – would you buy a car that didn’t run properly? Would you buy a jacket full of holes? Would you want to rent a house with no heating? Then why do people want to watch bad films? Badly made films, let’s call them what they are. And all other films are called arthouse films. I watch arthouse films? Well, I watch well made films. Well-crafted films. Because that’s what it comes down to – craftsmanship. Talent. Imagine a capoeirista who keeps falling over, who keeps getting kicked, who gets stuck in stalemates. You enjoy watching him? You might laugh as he fucks up? You can enjoy watching the spectacle, but would you dare say he’s a good capoeirista!? That’s what your enjoying in these films. You’re enjoying watching the talentless fuck-ups of a poor craftsmen. And this shit is serious – because it’s not just the films at stake, it’s a symptom of the mass dumbing down of culture. Everything is reduced. Stupid is the new clever. And when we live in a world where every fucker is trying to control us the last thing we need to do is be encouraging stupidity. Yet the intellectual value of everything is being sucked away. Even philosophy itself. Look at Alain de Botton trying to compare Nietzsche to a ballet dancer! When thinking itself becomes stupid we really are all truly fucked.